A nation forged in war

Katja Hoyer discusses Germany’s unification 150 years ago: an event that cast a long shadow over the troubled young nation and would alter the course of European and world history.

Shivering in the cold winter air that drifted in through the windows of his temporary residence in Paris, Wilhelm I, King of Prussia, sat miserably in an armchair, brooding over the future of his beloved realm. It was 17 January 1871, the eve of his scheduled coronation as Kaiser of a German Empire that would herald a new chapter in European history. His Minister-President and advisor, Otto von Bismarck, had told him that this was the moment when Prussia would truly rise to its destined role as one of the great European powers. Wilhelm was not so sure. His was a Prussian crown and he had no desire to give it up and exchange it for a German one. Eventually, something in the 73-year old king snapped. As the slight shiver grew into tremors, he burst into tears and cried, ‘Tomorrow will be the unhappiest day of my life! We are going to witness the burial of the Prussian monarchy.’...